09 Sep Spotlighting La Boomz
Skater and video editor, La Boomz spoke to me about some of the things he’s most passionate about, skateboarding, filming and editing. The Adamawa native moved to Lagos a few years after his father passed away to explore a career in entertainment. Shortly after he got a job at his cousin’s studio, he enrolled at the PEFTI film institute in Lagos to sharpen his editing skills. A little while down the line, he’s now an active member of the skate community here in Lagos and a well recognized content editor.
E: What came first, your love for skating or editing ?
LB: Filming and Editing came first for me. Skating is something I’ve always been interested in but I didn’t take it seriously because I didn’t think it was something I could survive off of. So I focused most of my energy on filming & editing. However, skating is one of my favorite things to shoot but more than anything, I love making documentaries about anything and everything.
E: How important is filming and editing content to skate culture ?
LB: Oh, I think it’s very important. Obviously, it’s something we are lacking in Nigeria. We don’t have enough people documenting the growth of skate culture here. When you look at the history of hip hop and how much it was documented, it was as big of a deal in the early stages but it was very well documented by those that loved it and wanted to showcase it to the world so people would have a clear picture of what it is. So yeah, skateboarding needs to be documented. It’s something I will focus on in the coming years.
E: What got you into editing?
LB: In 2018, my cousin had a photography and videography studio. No one knew how that’ll work. I didn’t know how to operate a camera or launch Adobe premiere pro. But because I was the only one that was “tech savvy”, my family roped me into learning the works. Now I can’t believe how much I’ve grown to love what I do and how far I’ve come.
NOK’D Music Video, edited by La Boomz
E: What’s the most difficult part of editing that clients often don’t get?
LB: One thing that bothers me a lot is that people don’t get when an edit is final, it should be final. If you’re not sending corrections while I’m working on the first couple of cuts, don’t send them when we’ve finished editing. People think these things magically happen. Sometimes, I don’t get enough time before a client asks for the final cut because people don’t consider everything that it takes.
E: You’ve worked with big names & brands in Lagos, from Teezee to WafflesNCream, creating very different content for each, how do you retain your own creative signature while tending what they need from you ?
LB: People approach me because they want their content to have a flare of my style. So if you’ve seen my “shit” and you’re coming to me as a client, you’d expect a lot of VHS, Film Burns and something not too serious. But of course people come with their own idea of what they want. Because I want to eat and survive, I’ll take the gig.
‘WTF is Alte’ Documentary edited by La Boomz
E: You’re a creative that wears many hats, from DJing to cinematography, do you ever feel overwhelmed or pulled in too many directions?
LB: I definitely felt like that, especially when I worked in the digital department at Cool FM. I was around people that were both very creative and tech savvy — graphic designers, UI/UX designers. People around me could use like 10 software application. At some point, it felt like I needed to be doing that much. It got draining and time too time consuming fast. After I left Cool FM, I cut back on a lot of things so I could feel more sane. Now, I’m trying to take on a little bit more. I’m learning python so I can transition into tech. Regardless of what video editing is now and how much AI can never completely take over, it might end up doing the job at some point. So, that’s my back up plan just in case editing and skating don’t pan out how I want.
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